Lawful travel gifts for city officials called into question

Over the past two years, San Francisco elected officials received more than $44,000 in travel-related gifts — airfare, hotel rooms, meals and the like –a lawful practice that a new watchdog group says nonetheless raises ethical questions of undue influence by the donors, or the perception of such.

State law limits gifts to an official from any single source to no more than $420 a year. An exception to the cap is carved out for travel.

San Franciscans for Clean Government, led by political consultant Jon Golinger, cast the travel donations as a ”massive travel gift loophole” that thwarts ”campaign finance laws designed to prevent both corruption and the appearance of corruption.”

The group, no more than a dozen members in size and with no budget, according to Golinger, released a report Tuesday that highlighted the unrestricted gifts. The group calls for the $420 gift limit to be extended to travel. The report can be found at www.cleanupcityhall.wordpress.com.

Among the findings, culled from information found in disclosure reports filed by the recipients: the travel gifts funded 26 trips by seven of San Francisco’s elected officials.

The two top recipients, according to the group, were Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who reported nearly $17,000 in funding for seven trips to China, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Cambridge, Mass., and Washington, DC; and City Treasurer Jose Cisneros, who reported more than $7,000 in funding for nine trips to Mexico City, Washington DC, Miami, Chicago and five other U.S. cities, according to the report.

Two groups tied to Chinatown power broker Rose Pak were the top donors combined, funding trips for Chiu and Supervisors Carmen Chu and Eric Mar to China, the report found.

Golinger, it should be noted, was highly critical of Chiu’s decision last week to back Ed Lee for the job of interim mayor. Lee also was the favored pick of Pak. Chiu said Lee was his first choice for interim mayor, regardless of Pak’s position.

The supervisor did not dispute the group’s findings, nor did he find them troubling. Just the opposite, he said.

”This report shows that our system of full disclosure is working,” he said. Furthermore, he added, ”There is a clear public benefit when elected officials can meet our counterparts in other cities and countries so we can figure out how to do things better in San Francisco.”

John St. Croix, executive director of the San Francisco Ethics Commission, said he is satisfied that the current system is working and finds nothing untoward about the travel expenses. He also disputed Golinger’s assertion that the recipients of the travel gifts found a way around the reporting requirements.

”It’s not really a loophole,” St. Croix said. He said the law clearly allows an exception for travel that is related to official business.

Chiu said his travel to the Far East, for example, was tied to San Francisco’s sister-city relationships. In the Netherlands, he was getting a first-hand look at its bike program.

”Compliance with disclosure has been very good,” St. Croix said. ”People can see who’s traveling and what they’re doing, then we can see if there’s any potential for conflict. Our main concern is disclosure.”